Compaq to intro AMD Sledgehammer servers

Iceberg hits Itanic earlier than expected?

Major AMD OEM customers - including Compaq - will introduce Sledgehammer-based servers as early as Q4 this year, it has emerged.

Yesterday we reported that silicon for AMD's 64-bit x86-based answer to Intel's Itanium, which we have decided to codename Iceberg rather than Sledgehammer, is already in the hand of major customers.

Now we understand that product launches from Compaq and other major PC manufacturers who have showed loyalty to AMD and its Athlon product will intro such systems towards the end of this year.

Board and chipset vendors have also received samples of early product from AMD, as the ramp towards multiprocessing servers steadily increases.

For server platforms that come to fruition in this time span, manufacturers need samples now. And they've got them.

Having Compaq back the Iceberg platform is a major coup for AMD, and further reduces credibility for Intel's Itanium processor.

Meanwhile, Newsbytes is reporting that an architecture manager at the Philippine Intel fab has said stepping difficulties with the Itanium has caused it to slip a quarter. You can find this story here. ®